Monday, June 09, 2008

Sick Co-Worker? They're Probably Not Contagious

You've probably heard before that you can't get sick once a cold has already started. And that's partly true according to a recent Quirks & Quarks podcast.Typically you're most contagious before cold symptoms (coughing, sniffling and sneezing) begin, when your body is flush with viruses, but the body's immune responses have not yet kicked in. Once the body starts fighting a cold, that's when symptoms appear. And the symptoms can linger for days and days after the virus is completely wiped out. It's your body's way of being sure it cleans up the whole mess.

So, basically, your body is slow to respond to illness and it's late to stop responding. So most likely, if a co-worker is coughing and sneezing, they're not really contagious.

About Me

I started pound360 to channel my obsession with vitamins, running and the five senses. Eventually, I got bored focusing on all that stuff, so I came back from a one month hiatus in May of 2007 (one year after launching Pound360) and broadened my mumblings here to include all science.